Lucas Duval
The Xavier Institute's new magically endowed live-in cook. Physical Description Name: '''Lucas Duval (Loo-Cuss Do-Vall) '''Code Name: Does not really have one or want one but if needed an alias he would go by his nickname 'The Devil Chef' Will also accept: * The Imperor * The incredible handless wonder (only when drunk) * Houdini (after he has done his escape artist trick) Age: 42 Sex: '''Male '''Nationality: French Height: 5' 11" Weight: 180 lbs Eye Color: Sea Foam Green Hair Color/Style: Brown in a just-crawled-out-of-bed-with-no-regard-for-how-my-hair-looks style that takes half an hour or more to get 'just right' Better Description: * Fully clothed he appears to be a fairly normal man of his age and nationality. * with his shirt off and his bare back exposed, one can see his tattoo, covers his entire back in runes detailing his contract with an other-worldly entity * Has a goatee * Depending on the circumstance may be missing some or all of either (or both) of his hands and arms. Normal Attire: * Rejects the notion of the chef hat or the white smock notating a chef and often simply wears blue jeans and a T-shirt ABILITIES AND WEAKNESS Source of extra-Normal Abilities: A magical contract with a minor demonic Baron EXTRA-NORMAL ABILITY (Concise): He can summon Imps and Demons by 'trading' part of his body for them. EXTRA-NORMAL ABILITY (Expanded): He can temporarily 'trade' his own flesh starting with the tips of his finger and headed inward for imps and demons that vary in size from two or less inches all the way up to the size of a house cat or in extreme cases the size of a toddler Each one of Lucas' arms are his bartering chip with two distinct clans of demons and imps. Left Arm - Small and medium sized imps * The four fingers - four medium sized mps or eight smaller imps - Known collectively as 'the piggies' due to Lucas' tendency to gain a psychological edge over any foe by doing the 'this little piggy' nursery rhyme while transferring his fingers to call upon the imps, which then further startle the those unfamiliar with Lucas' aptitude for summoning imps and demons * This thumb - a single imp that is slightly larger than the medium sized imps summoned by the fingers that has been dubbed 'the boss' - smarter than all the other imps and serves as sort of middle manager between Lucas and the other imps * Palm - four medium sized imps or eight smaller ones * Fore-arm - exact number of imps called upon is unknown as they refuse to stand still long enough to be counted but at-least a dozen more smaller imps or half a dozen medium sized ones. It isn't his full forearm though as about half and inch of it is left to serve as the 'material' to sustain the imps and serve as insurance against one of them possibly being harmed in the course of their duties * Elbow - to be exact half an inch of his forearm, his elbow joint and half an inch of his upper arm - an imp that is between the size of the smaller imps and the medium sized imps - Lucas calls this fellow 'Enzo' after an old associate of his who was only ever successful as the lackey to someone else - Enzo is sort of a second middle manager between Lucas and 'the boss' but 'the boss' still is on top of the food chain as far as hierarchy goes. * Half the Upper arm - more imps though they tend to mostly be medium sized imps rather than their smaller cousins When things get serious Right Arm - Large imps and small demons * The entire hand - three large imps about the size of a beer glass that have been dubbed (but do not respond to): Moe, Larry, and Curly * Forearm - a cat-like demon that is also about the same size as a house cat that Lucas refers to as 'the ex-girlfriend' * Upper arm - a more savage cat-like demon that is only slightly larger than 'the ex-girlfriend' by ten times as sadistic that Lucas refers to as 'the ex-wife' When shit REALLY gets bad * Right and left leg - the entire leg from the tip of his toes to his hips -They have been dubbed 'Hanz and Franz' - they are always summoned forth a pair - these two are the size of a toddler but are infinitely more agile and mobile than a toddler - they are Lucas' last line of defense APPENDIX for the abilities of each Sub-Character/entity type THE MECHANICS AND VULNERABILITIES OF HIS SUMMONING OF DEMONS AND IMPS: *'THE MAIN VULNERABILITY:' **Lucas's body is used for three main purposes during the use of this skill of his: **#Call forth the imps and demons to the mortal realm **#Sustain them while they are in the mortal realm (the rate of consumption is very slow) **#Heal the demons and imps should they be harmed while in the mortal realm **Lucas is just as vulnerable as a normal person, so should his heart end up being 'traded', then Lucas would die just like any other person would from having their heart torn out of their torso. * SUMMONING: ** Lucas needs only to mentally will part of his body to be traded for it to happen, so he could be completely tied up and so long as he is conscious he can utilize his particular magical skill ***If he is rendered unconscious then he can not summon more imps and/or demons but those he has already summoned do not immediately go away and in-fact more than likely will be sustained **While Lucas can summon the imps and demons at will, it is feasible that they might not 'answer' his summons **The act causes him no more pain than putting his feet into a sock or his hands into a glove. ***When he has traded for example his left hand to summon his imp assistant he does not appear to have had his left hand cut off by a cleaver, he merely has a surface that can not be perceived by the human eye (and thus is ignored by a person's ocular cortex) where his wrist should be. ***Having the blood vessels of his arm come to what is effectively a portal to another realm does not impede the blood flow through the rest of his body and his organ as well as the tissues of his arm remain properly oxygenated so long as Lucas is still breathing * UNSUMMONING: ** Lucas can not at will 'unsummon' them or 'force them to leave'. Only they can choose whether or not they wish to return. *** And that means they can return even if Lucas does not want them to do so. ** Lucas can however make it 'uncomfortable' for the imps and demons to stay in the mortal realm. (See GENERAL CONTROL) ** THE SMALL & MEDIUM IMPS *** The imps do not like the demons and so quite often will 'run away' out of the mortal realm whenever Lucas summons the demons, which is more trouble than it is worth if Lucas's sole goal is to get rid of the imps. *** The imps normally are quite willing to 'leave' when they are asked to do so and very seldom resist or fight Lucas over the issue ** THE LARGE IMPS & DEMONS *** The demons expect to be paid for their services most often by being permitted to feast upon some sort of living organism (which works out just fine since Lucas only summons them when he is being attacked by someone or something) but also by being provided with alcohol and then being allowed to amuse themselves with whatever is at hand in whatever way they see fit to do so until they choose to return to their own realm. *** Lucas has learned from previous experience not to try to force the demons to return as they will turn on him and attack him, possibly killing him. * GENERAL CONTROL ** Lucas can not directly control his imps and has little to no control over the demons ** The only control that Lucas has takes the form of his ability to stop the slow loss of his body to the other realm in order to sustain the imps and demons and thus cause all the demons and imps he has summoned to effectively begin to starve to death and presumably eventually die (though it has never come to that) ** What exactly would happen if Lucas starved the demons and imps to death is therefore unknown. ***'CONTROL OVER THE IMPS' ****Lucas has managed to through a combination of negative reinforcement and praise, to train the imps to be his cooking staff, but he can not directly control them in a manner akin to puppets or like an employer can dictate the actions of their employees ****As mentioned 'The Boss' and 'Enzo' aid Lucas in controlling the other imps ****Invariably each time Lucas summons some imps, some of them are new and therefore unfamiliar with the tasks set before them but fortunately for Lucas he has been lucky enough that the majority of the imps he calls forth have been summoned before and trained enough to be fairly competent at the culinary arts. ***'CONTROL OVER THE DEMONS' ****Lucas has learned from experience not to have 'delusions' about being able to exercise any sort of meaningful control over the demons he calls forth. *****While they will generally act in Lucas' self-interests, they will do so only so long as it is also either amusing to do so or in their own self-interest (of causing mayhem and destruction). ****Unlike the imps which have been effectively trained to act as his cooking staff, the demons have not been trained nor does Lucas believe that trying to train them do anything other than kill and destroy would be a worthwhile endeavour. * MISCELLANEOUS UNORTHODOX USES OF HIS SUMMONING SKILL ** While the Imps are for the most part ineffective at fighting or defending Lucas, Lucas can to a fair degree choose where in his surroundings the imps are summoned to and has a degree of proficiency with his summoning that he can effectively exploit that fact to summon a imp inside of something else such as someone attacking him. *** This is a tactic that Lucas is very hesitant to perform because doing so will kill the imp he summons and therefore erode the relationship of trust he has with the imps and possible make them not answer his summons ** He can slip out of handcuffs fairly easily by making one or if need both of his hands be traded for imps and/or demons ** As mentioned before gets a fair degree of enjoyment out of traumatizing someone who is unfamiliar with his ability by showing them his fingers disappearing one by one while singing the 'this little piggy' song. * POST SUMMONING ** Invariably to one degree or another after all the demons and imps have return to their own plane of existence, Lucas is left with less of his body than he had before the summoning. ** An outsider might see what happens (rather slowly) afterwards to be Lucas' body regenerating itself. But in actuality it is the demons and imps being rejuvenated by being in their own realm and their 'borrowed' biomass being returned to Lucas. NON-MAGICAL ABILITIES: *Lucas is a graduate of the Cordon Bleu Institute in Paris as well as KEDGE Business Management School in Marseille, both located in his home country of France *Proficient in a wide variety of culinary styles *Speaks French, English,German, and Latin (before old and new) *Has a working comprehension of the impish language *Has a rudimentary comprehension of the language of his demons PSYCHOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION: PERSONALITY: * Easy-Going * Not easily surprised by things that would likely seem rather odd to other people * Is fairly tolerant of mistreatment by others ** But when he is mad, his actions can at times become borderline sadistic HOBBIES and INTERESTS: * Reading Trashy Romance Novels * Preparing and drinking Tea (which he prefers to coffee) * Restauranttory * Cooking for the sake of cooking HISTORY: Lucas was born into a family of well-established members of the Ordo Umbra, of which Shroud is also a member, and as such grew up in the order but always had a passion for the culinary arts and while he was forced at a young age by social expectations and direct forcing to pursue the magical arts, ultimately become a lapsed member of the Ordo Umbra in order to pursue a career in the culinary arts. Prior to becoming the live-in chef of the Xavier Institute, Lucas ran a small bistro cafe called: Le Plat Diabolique (or in English: The Devilish Dish) that specialized in French Cuisine but with added spice and flavor. Because he was 'uncooperative' with a local 'protection racket', they sent a group of enforcers to try to teach Lucas a lesson. The leg-breakers ended up being killed but Lucas decided it was time to relocate, particularly after the bistro he had poured his heart and soul into was burnt down shortly after the fight.